Season 6 of Apex Legends is on its way, and with it come some new changes to the map. According to Apex's Design Director Jason McCord, these changes are meant to "inject some 'newness'" into the map and will create more viable play options in the lava fields, create better options for navigating rough chokepoints, and introduce a whole new map mechanic.

The first notable change is the addition of the Launch Site, a new drop point that's now occupying a previously empty lava field. The Launch Site is another of Hammond Industries' concoctions, and features four different control rooms said to have a ton of loot, and a new passage so you can rotate through this part of the map like never before. This new area will also serve to provide a variety of traversal options, as it's near both the Dome and the Sorting Factory.

Apex vets will remember the Drill Site. Well, it's being replaced by Countdown, another large Hammond facility whose purpose remains unknown. At its center is a pit that boasts some pretty stellar loot, but beware: if you aren't in control of this area before delving below, you may be in for a bad time. Countdown is built to be a pretty formidable fortress that even includes three user-operated blast walls that can be used to fortify the approach from Skyhook, Lava Train, and Train Yard. These walls are a new mechanic for the map that allow for new ways to attack and defend and can be found at Launch Site, Countdown, and Staging.